


The Whole Thing Would Fracture

by thebaddestwolf



Series: Ten x Rose Ficlets [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Doomsday, F/M, Ficlet, ten x rose - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-02-28
Packaged: 2018-03-15 17:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3455219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebaddestwolf/pseuds/thebaddestwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten/Rose Doomsday Angst. Originally <a href="http://thebadddestwolf.tumblr.com/post/56743467299/the-whole-thing-would-fracture">posted on July 28, 2013</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Whole Thing Would Fracture

Of all the things she’s said to him, the countless strings of words and phrases, symphonies of vowels and consonants, there is one word that rises above the rest.

Two curving letters that can often mean nothing, functioning merely as a join between clauses. But, in this case, they are everything. 

_So?_

He agrees with her in every timeline. But he only acts on it in one.

_So?_

He plays that unchosen timeline in his head sometimes, when he’s having a particularly dark day, when not everybody lives, wondering if it would have been worth it to put a stop to all the misery.

_So?_

To be with her at the end.

_So?_

Her eyes widen as he comes through properly, as his hand reaches out to cup her face. She stifles a sob as she embraces him and he can feel her breath hot on his neck, her hands clutching at the back of his jacket. 

As he curls an arm around her waist and threads his fingers through her hair, pulling her into a tighter embrace, he notices the sea’s roaring waves lull and quiet. He thinks she might have realized too because she’s leaning back just enough to see his face, just enough to choke out the words.

"I- I love you."

They barely pass her lips before the air begins to roar; it sounds like thunder. 

He strokes her face, smooths away her tears, ignores the beginning of the end.

What a time to finally find peace. 

He presses his forehead against hers as he says it, barely audible above the grumbling of the earth, the cries of faraway galaxies. 

When his lips gently touch hers he can feel it, stars being torn apart, civilizations crumbling, black holes erupting. The shaking ground only drives them closer together, only makes them more desperate; tongues seeking, teeth scraping, breath shaking. 

He finally pulls away when he feels it all begin to crumble. He needs her eyes to be the last thing he sees. 

"It was all for you," he tells her, both hands cupping her face. 

She beams back at him, tears streaming down her cheeks, eyes never straying from his even as the atmosphere alights.

"Forever," she whispers.

Then the timeline ends. 

_So?_

He knows she didn’t really, truly mean it; that she wouldn’t sacrifice two worlds for a few moments bliss. And she trusted him not to do it, though it would have been so easy.

But on dark days he wonders if he would make the same decision again. 

He thinks he might have liked to end it all with her. 


End file.
